Inventory of the Whaling Enshrined, Incorporated, Records In the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research LibraryProcessed by: Judith Downey, with assistance from Barbara Groves; machine-readable finding aid created by:Kermit DeweyFunds for processing this collection were provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities.Inventory of the Whaling Enshrined, Incorporated, Records In the New Bedford Whaling Museum Research Library

Whaling Enshrined, Incorporated, was established at South Dartmouth, Massachusetts, in 1925 "to enshrine and preserve the whaleship, Charles W. Morgan, and other relics of the whaling industry; to create and foster an interest in the history of whaling and the trades which are subsidiary thereto; to promote historical research; to collect documents and relics and to provide for their proper custody; to acquire and preserve other vessels of historical interest; to take and hold historic sites and to care for them; and generally to discover, procure and preserve whatever may relate to general history and antiquity." The organization acquired the Charles W. Morgan and moored the vessel at "Round Hills", the estate of Col. Edward H.R. Green at South Dartmouth. Col. Green, president and treasurer of Whaling Enshrined, Inc., was the chief source of funds for the restoration of the Morgan and for its continued existence. A marine park was established at the site and both it and the vessel were open to the public. After Green's death in 1936, funds for maintaining the Morgan ran out and a concerted effort was made by the trustees to raise funds for its continued support. In 1939, the Morgan Fund Committee was organized under the auspices of the Old Dartmouth Historical Society to raise money to finance the cost of moving the vessel from South Dartmouth to New Bedford harbor. Fund-raising efforts of that committee failed, however, and in 1941 the trustees agreed to send the Charles W. Morgan to the Marine Historical Association at Mystic, Ct. Whaling Enshrined, Inc., continued to exist until 1947, when the corporation liquidated.

Records in this collection reflect the administrative activities of Whaling Enshrined, Inc., from 1925-1947. The administrative records consist of minutes of meetings of the trustees, 1925-1947, which include by-laws, certificates of organization, a charter and membership material; a bill of sale for the Charles W. Morgan, 1925; and a trustee writ, 1932. The financial records include the assistant treasurer's records, 1928-1942, which contain reports, 1928-1937, trial sheets, 1929, 1936-1937, and a record of payments, 1942; crew and wage records, 1925-1937; check books for salary accounts, 1925-1937; and bank records, 1925-1937, which include statements for checking accounts, 1932-1937.

The attendance records contain volumes which record the census of people who visited the Morgan each month from 1927-1937. The Tilton Memorial Tablet records concern a memorial tablet created in the memory of Captain George Fred Tilton, who had been a whaling captain and curator of the Morgan at Round Hills. The records include correspondence, 1932-1933, and lists of contributors, 1933. The Morgan Fund Committee records consist of minutes of meetings, 1940, and clippings, 1939-1942. The correspondence contains incoming, 1927-1937, and outgoing, 1932-1937, mainly to and from Col. Green discussing finances of the Morgan. There are also letters regarding the settling of the estate of Lucy I. Tilton, widow of Capt. George Fred Tilton, and of whaling artifacts and curios which were on exhibition aboard the Morgan but were owned by the Tiltons.

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